Frequently Asked Questions → Smart Search
- What is ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
- How is Smart Search different from regular web search?
- How do I use ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
- Can you give me an example of a Smart Search?
- What search engine does¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search use?
- Does ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search search the whole web?
- Are Smart Search results translated into Spanish?
- What are the search options of ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
- What is "Word" search mode?
- What is "Phrase" search mode?
- What is the "Web language" search option used for?
- Some words in my query were not translated. What happened?
- I got no results in response to my query. Why?
- How does ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search work?
- Why is Smart Search important for ¡TradúceloAhora!?
1. What is ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search is a web service from ¡TradúceloAhora! that lets you search the web using Spanish. With the service you can type queries in your own language, Spanish, and get relevant search results from web pages in the language that you indicate. The possible language options are English, Spanish, and Any. Additionally, you will be able to translate search results in English into Spanish using ¡TradúceloAhora! web translation.
2. How is Smart Search different from regular web search?
With ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search your web query is automatically translated from Spanish into English, as needed, and the resulting expression is used to search the web using a Web search engine by Yahoo!.
In contrast, in regular web search, web pages and user queries are indexed and accessed with the individual words and terms contained in them. Since no term translation is done on the documents or the queries, your search will match only documents containing the same terms as your query.
3. How do I use ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
To use ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search go to the Smart Search web page and type in your web query in Spanish. Then click "Search". The search results will be presented in a familiar format for web search results. On the search results, click the link en español of each search result to view a it in Spanish.
Several ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search options let you control how the search is performed and how the results are presented.
4. Can you give me an example of a Smart Search?
Suppose you want to search about the American civil war. The most likely Spanish query is - «guerra civil americana».
Type the Spanish query in the Smart Search box and click "Search." Once submitted the query will be translated into English as «american civil war» and a web search is done with that phrase.
As of this writing, the Yahoo! web search service returns 72,300,000 results for the translated query. The results can be viewed in the original language (English) or in Spanish. To view a result in English click on the title of the result. To view a result in Spanish click on the link en español.
5. What search engine does¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search use?
¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search uses Yahoo! Web Search, a web service from Yahoo! which allows searching the Internet for web pages. You can read about the Web Services by Yahoo! by following the link.
6. Does ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search search the whole web?
Yes. ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search uses Web Services by Yahoo! to search the whole web.
7. Are Smart Search results translated into Spanish?
Yes. You can view search results in Spanish by clicking the link [en español] next to each result.
8. What are the search options of ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search?
¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search has three search options -
- Results
- Determines how many results are returned in each search results page. The possible values are "5," "10," and "20."
- Web language
- Determines in what language the search results returned are written, and whether the user query is translated. The possible values are "Any," "English," and "Spanish."
- Mode
- Determines how search results are obtained and the number of results returned. The possible values are "Word," and "Phrase." See the next two questions.
9. What is "Word" search mode?
In "Word" search mode the Spanish query is translated as a full English term or expression and all words are submitted to the search engine.
10. What is "Phrase" search mode?
In "Phrase" search mode the Spanish query is translated as a collection of quoted English terms without word inflections. The quoted terms are submitted to the search engine, which requires an exact match of each term with each search result returned. Typically there are a lot fewer search results returned in "Phrase" search mode, including no results.
In the search example above, for «guerra civil americana», if "Phrase" search mode is selected the Spanish query will be translated as «"american civil war"» (note the quotes around the phrase). The Yahoo! web search service returns 5,540,000 results instead of 72,300,000.
11. What is the "Web language" search option used for?
The "Web language" search option determines whether the user query is translated, and in what language the search results returned are written. You can use it to select the language of the web pages searched.
- With the default setting "Any" the user query is translated and web pages in any language matching the translated query are returned.
- If the "Web language" setting is "English", the user query is also translated and only web pages in English matching the translated query are returned.
- If the "Web language" setting is "Spanish", the query is not translated and only matching web pages in Spanish are returned.
12. Some words in my query were not translated. What happened?
Most likely your query contains words unknown to the software. Check the spelling and make sure that Spanish accents and tildes are in your query. At this time ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search does not support spelling correction or Spanish accent restoration.
13. I got no results in response to my query. Why?
Your search, as formulated, does not match any documents. Try one of these suggestions:
- Use "Word" instead of "Phrase" search mode.
- Check the spelling of your query. Make sure Spanish accents and tildes are included.
- Use synonyms of the words in your query.
- Try different, more general or fewer keywords.
14. How does ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search work?
¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search uses IBM WebSphere Translation Server® to translate user queries from Spanish to English, and Yahoo! Web services to perform web searches with the selected search options.
Search results can be translated from English to Spanish also using IBM WebSphere Translation Server®.
15. Why is Smart Search important for ¡TradúceloAhora!?
¡TradúceloAhora! is committed to bridging the digital-divide for Spanish-speaking users. It is estimated that 70% to 80% of the content on the Internet is written in English, and much of it is not easily accessible to users who do not speak English.
With ¡TradúceloAhora! Smart Search you are able to find relevant information on the web with queries in your own language, and to translate it into Spanish as needed.
